


The Reader in the Corner

by ElementalPower



Series: The Reader in the Corner [1]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Case Fic, F/M, Out of Character, Timeline What Timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-25 07:38:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7524163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElementalPower/pseuds/ElementalPower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spencer Reid wasn't looking for it. But it happened. Hopefully, a case doesn't ruin his  chances of finding love since it has been taken away from him before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I personally don't think I write violent scenes, but the tag is just in case.

Mia walked out of her favorite bookstore in a rush. She stayed there way longer than she wanted to. She just couldn't decide what she wanted.

 

Mystery.

 

Romance.

 

Historical Fiction.

 

She ended up with three novels covering all three of those topics. She might not even get to those books. She had a whole bunch surrounding her apartment, but this was the life she had chosen. The life of a bookworm. And unfortunately, she would be back here next week to choose new books even if she hadn't finished a single book within the next week.

 

Mia would have hailed a taxi, but it was late at night. She decided to stand outside of the bookstore after calling the taxi company that knew her by name and the place where she would be pice up. She waved at the owner who was still insider closing everything up. He always offered to drive her home, but she was always refused, saying that he should be home with his wife.

 

Eventually, the store went dark, and Mia was left standing in the light that only a street lamp could provide before a voice called to her from a dark alley.

 

"Miss?" the voice said.

 

Hair raised on her arms as a figure walked toward her from the dark, but Mia refused to be scared.

 

"Can I help you with something?" she asked the man.

 

"You sure can," he said as he revealed the knife that he was hiding behind his back.

 

Mia quickly tried to turn around and run, but it was too late. The man had already grabbed her shoulders keeping her in place. Mia started to plead for her life, but it was for nothing. The man put his empty hand up to her mouth before jabbing the knife straight into her heart.


	2. Chapter 2

Spencer Reid was sitting in the corner of his favorite coffee shop in D.C. The place was quiet without the hustle and bustle of ordinary shops. It was the perfect place to catch up on reading when not on a case or before they were called onto one. He was rereading The Prince. It was a very stimulating read in his opinion.

 

"Can you really read that fast?" a feminine voice interrupted his reading.

 

He looked up and saw a tiny brunette with bright, blue eyes looking at him intriguingly. She was in business attire that looked surprisingly comfortable with a large, yellow hardback book under her shoulder and a steaming mug in her head.

 

"Yes, actually," he replied. "I can read twenty thousand words a minute."

 

The woman looked impressed instead of giving him an incredulous as he looked before.

 

"Can I sit here? Everywhere else has someone who I doubt is as interesting."

 

Reid started at her blankly before gesturing with his arm to allow her to sit. She put her mug down first before pulling the chair out so that she could sit.

 

"You know, we're pretty much the only one here. There are plenty of empty tables around."

 

"I know, but I thought you were cute, so I wanted to have a reason to talk to you, and I can't believe I said that out loud."

 

The blush that completely filled her face would have been funny to Reid, if only he wasn't blushing as well.

 

"Alex," she said holding her hand out to Reid.

 

"Reid," he said, on instinct at that point.

 

Alex looked at him confused. "That's an interesting name, for a first name at least."

 

Reid blushed slightly more at his mistake. "It's my last name. I've gotten used to giving it out."

 

"Law enforcement?" she asked knowingly.

 

"How did you know?"

 

"I deal with lots of officers with that I do. It's kinda the hazard of the job."

 

"What do you do then?" Spencer immediately asked. It wouldn't be the first time that a criminal took an interest in him.

 

Alex turned around into a bookbag that Spencer didn't realize that she had. She opened it up, pulling out a small piece of paper before closing the bag back up again. Turning around, she held out the piece of paper that ended up being a business card for Spencer to take, which he did. There was a small blue wing etching from the side with cursive lettering saying "Angel's Salvation."

 

After looking at it a bit, she spoke up saying, "I run a nonprofit that helps kids deal with bullying. Sometimes we have to call in law enforcement or they just simply come to us. Sometimes these kids are taken to the point of no return, unfortunately."

 

Once again feeling safe in her presence, Spencer said, "You sound like you know something about it."

 

"I was almost there," Alex said sadly. "Why not have these kids get help from someone who kinda understands. But let's move on to a happier topic."

 

"You don't have somewhere to be?" Spencer asked, remembering the fact that she was wearing business casual clothing.

 

"Nah. I have not appointments, and I'm the boss. I can go in whenever. What about you, Mister Law Enforcement."

 

"Just on call. Don't really have anywhere to be. So, what are you reading?"

 

Alex pulled out the book she had placed in her lap on the table.

 

"You're not allowed to judge," Alex said, almost skeptically. "This is one of my favorite books."

 

"I promise not to judge your reading choices too much," Reid said jokingly.

 

With a smile on her face, Alex put her book up so Reid could read it's cover. Its title was _13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear_. On the cover was a large bear with blue fur in a tiny ship with what he could only assume to be tiny pirates. He could see that it had been read many times with the spine of the book having many creases.

 

"So, what is it about?" he asked.

 

The smile on Alex's face grew even bigger. Soon a conversation that could have been covered in five minutes, max, spanned hours. After describing the plot of her favorite book, they started discussing their favorite books, books they hated and everything in between. They even discussed some books that one loved and the other hated. The drinks were long forgotten.

 

The conversation would have lasted longer except Spencer's phone rang out of nowhere. Seeing that it was Hotch calling, Spencer stood up saying, "I have to get this."

 

Spencer walking into a small nook of the room. Once he was sure that no one could hear him, he answered.

 

"Hotch?"

 

"Spencer," he responded with a no-nonsense voice. He was already sounding stressed on the phone. "How soon can you be here?"

 

"Thirty minutes. What happened?"

 

"Eight women are dead within the course of three weeks. We were called an hour ago to deal with this. We need everyone on this on this."

 

"I'll be on my way," Spencer responded.

 

The phone's dial tone soon followed. Spencer didn't blame him; he probably had more people to call before the rest of the team got to the office. Spencer walked back toward his table where Alex was the first one to talk.

 

"You have to go, don't you?"

 

"Yeah, there's a case."

 

"I should probably go to work. It is noon," Alex said, also packing up her stuff in her small bookbag.

 

"I would love to talk to you again."

 

"You have my number, so maybe call me sometime," she said.

 

Spencer watched her turn around and leave the shop before turning and waving through the glass door. She then proceeded to turn right and continue walking. It took a moment before Spencer remembered that he also had to leave. He quickly walked out of the shop before heading to the left where he knew he could easily catch a cab.


	3. Chapter 3

Spencer was still in a dreamy state when he reached the heart of Quantico. The short ride to the office wasn't enough for him to get Alex out of his head. That was probably why Hotchner was able to sneak up on him.

 

"You all right, Reid? You don't completely seem...here," Hotch asked him. From the look on Hotch's face, he knew he thought that there was something wrong. He wouldn't be more wrong.

 

"Every thing's fine," Spencer told him, bringing a smile to his face.

 

Hotchner gave his younger teammate a slight squint before shaking it off. He kept walking so that he was on the way to the briefing room, while Reid followed shortly behind. The briefing room already contained Morgan, JJ, Kate, Rossi, and a slightly queasy looking Garcia. Garcia looked up when Spencer and Hotch walked in and took seats around the giant table.

 

Alright, my awesome crime fighters," she said, "you are being called into Asheville where they are having a small serial killer problem. There have been ten within the last four weeks."

 

"I thought it was eight, Garcia," Hotch asked her.

 

"Oh, it was, sir, but then the police department added two more possible victims since... Well, you guys can see for yourselves."

 

Pictures of ten women in driver's photos and then the same women in crime scene photos filled the screen. The only difference was that two of the victims were in slightly different poses than the other eight. Those other two also had different types of knife striations on their bodies.

 

"If I didn't know any better," Rossi states, "I would assume that they were the same woman."

 

"Yeah," Kate added. "They look eerily alike."

 

Every single woman on the screen had long, curly blonde hair that framed their entire face. The same button nose was found in the center of their faces. Large green eyes were framed by long eyelashes. Their lips were a subtle aspect of their features. The only difference was the amount of makeup that they were wearing in their pictures, but it was never more than what would come across as natural.

 

"All of these women seem to be placeholders for someone else if she isn't already among the victims," Morgan added.

 

"It doesn't seem to be sexual either," Spencer stated. "But I would also suppose that love could be an aspect of it since all of the victims were stabbed several times in the heart."

 

"Well, whatever the reason, we'll figure it out." Hotch states. "Wheels up in twenty," he said as he walked out of the room. Everyone else packed up their files and filed after him.

 

While Reid was walking out of the briefing room, Rossi snuck up behind him. "You looked kinda distracted back there. What's going on, kid."

 

"Nothing really," Reid replied. After getting a skeptical look from the older man, he continued. "I promise that nothing is going on. Nothing bad."

 

"So, it's something good?" Rossi asked leaning into the genius.

 

"I think so. I hope so," was the reply before Spencer was off into his own little world again.

 

The two of them walked into the bullpen and to their desks. All of them had go-away bags stashed into their desks for when cases came up out of the blue like this, freshly washed from when they went out on a case last month. The four members of the team stationed in the bullpen had all of their stuff gathered and met at the elevators. As soon as the elevator opened, JJ and Hotch rounded the corner with bags in hand. Piling in, as the elevator doors closed, Reid rubbed the card that was in his pocket.


	4. Chapter 4

The team headed into the Asheville and looked over the overworked police station. A man huddled over a desk, looked relieved when he saw that agents huddled by the door. He hurried over, wasting little time trying to look professional.  
  
Holding his hand out, he introduced himself. "I'm Chief Jim Murray. Thank you so much for coming."  
  
Hotch took the lead introducing the team while pointing each of them out. "I'm SSA Hotchner. This is SSA Rossi, Morgan, Jarreau, Callahan and Dr. Reid."  
  
"Tell us what you have," Rossi spoke to Chief Murray.  
  
"Follow me. I have everything set up in the conference you. When I originally called, there were only eight girls that we realized were from the same killer. There were too many similarities between all of the girls, especially the details that we kept from the press."  
  
At this point, they were in the conference room. The room was filled with pictures of women and timelines of events.  
  
"Since then, we added two more to the count. Once again there were just too many similarities even though there was a difference in killings.  
  
"Could be that the unsub found his preferred method of killing," Morgan brought up.  
  
"He?" Murray asked.  
  
"Statistically, this type of crime would be done by a male," Reid spoke up. "From what we've read, there is little to suggest that the unsub would be a female."  
  
"Reid, Morgan," Hotch spoke up, "I want you to go to the last crime scene, see what you can find. Rossi, Callahan, I want you to take to the medical examiner. JJ and I will stay here and look through the evidence some more."  
  
"I can get some of my officers to take you to those places," Murray told the team.  
  
"That would be appreciated," Kate said, and a serious grin on her face. She was already deep in thought from the look of things.  
  
From then, the team dispersed into their own separate directions.


	5. Chapter 5

Morgan and Reid slowly made their way to the newest crime scene. Police tape was still surrounding the block. Crime scene techs were taking pictures of the surrounding area. The body had long since been removed but blood splotches were still seen.  
  
"This is pretty public. Right in the middle of the street," Morgan noted.   
  
"It is. I'm wondering if emotion clouded his judgment or he just doesn't care," Reid replied.  
  
The two continued to walk towards the center of the crime scene. There were people around, but none that stuck out to the investigators. All of the people had curious and had a tiny bit of disgust on their faces.  
  
The most massive pool of blood was underneath a light pole.  There was a lot of spray exiting from that point. It was rushed. The two continued to survey the street. Out of the corner of his eye, Reid saw a shopping bag. Walking towards it and putting gloves on, Reid looked on the inside. It was filled with three pretty massive books. Inside one of the books was a receipt time stamped for last night.  
  
Calling out to the officers around him, "Is there a bookstore anywhere around here?"  
  
Morgan, who had started to walk towards him when he had frozen, jokingly said, "I don't think this is the best time to get a new book, Pretty Boy."  
  
Reid gave him an unamused look before looking back to the officers. A baby-faced one nodded, and looked far past the two agents. "There's one about a block that way. You can't miss it."  
  
Reid started to walk in the direction that the officer point in. He ducked under the police tape and quickly walked. Behind him, he heard Morgan jogging to keep up with him.  
  
"Reid, what did you find?"  
  
Spencer slowed down slightly to show Morgan the receipt in his hand. Morgan took it out of his hand after putting a single glove on.  
  
"This is time stamped a couple of minutes before the time of death. Maybe this was just a crime of convenience."  
  
"The other murders didn't seem like that. They seemed planned."  
  
The two men quickly made into the bookstore. It really was impossible to miss. There were books completely filling the inner windows. They walked in to find a single person manning the counter.  
  
"Hello, gentlemen," the elderly man said. "How may I help you today."  
  
"I'm Agent Morgan; this is Dr. Reid. We're investigating the death that occurred about a block away."  
  
"Yes, it was quite terrible. Do you know who would do such a thing?"  
  
"Not yet," Reid spoke, "but we found some books that seem to be purchased from here last night."  
  
"Well, I had only one custom... No! Tell me it's not true." The man started to frantically yell, scaring the two. "Not Mia. Please tell me it's not her."  
  
"Sir, we need you to calm down," Morgan tried to reason with the man.  
  
"Please tell me it's not her."  
  
"Who's Mia?" Reid asked him.  
  
"She was the only one here last night. I knew I had a bad feeling all night about it, but I just ignored it."  
  
The elderly man started to walk away from the front desk. He went to a small room off to the side, and Morgan and Reid followed after him.  
  
The small room was an office. The table had a small computer and the rest of the area was covered in books. There was a cork board on the other side of the room. It was filled with pictures from different events that had occurred. The elderly man went straight to the board. He filled off a picture and handed to the men. The picture held the man, an elderly woman, and a blonde who looked exactly like the woman who was murdered just hours before.  
  
"I'm sorry, sir," Reid softly told him.  
  
The spirit in the man just let out. "Just call me Allen. Everyone else does."  
  
"Okay, Allen," Morgan said. "How did you know Mia?"  
  
"I've known her since she was a little girl. She just to come in here all the time. She would just sit in the aliases in reading a book. I don't know how many times I would stumble over her while I was restocking." Allen chuckled at the thought. "I asked her about it one day. She said that this was the best place in the world because it just wasn't one. She wouldn't buy anything. She would just sit there and read.  
  
"After a while, my wife, Sherry, practically adopted her. She would have, honestly, if she had the option. She would leave cookies just for Mia whenever she would come in.  
  
"As she grew older, she would come in less and less, which we just assumed was her growing up. Then, she suddenly started coming in every single day. I didn't notice it at first - I was just happy that she was coming back - but she was wearing the same clothes every time she stepped in. I would ask her about it, but she kept silent. One day, she broke down to me late at night here and admitted that her parents kicked her out and she could figure out where else to go.  
  
"That night, I drove her to my house. As soon as Sherry saw Mia she took her away. They were gone for hours. To this day, they don't know what happened, but she seemed happier.  
  
"Mia stayed with us for a couple of years, eventually got her degree. Once she got a job, she moved out, saying she needed to be her own woman. Still, about every week, she would come back here after work and buy books. I know there was no way she finished all of them. I would keep offering them at a discount, but she refused. She would say it was payback for all of the years she wouldn't buy a book.  
  
"She was such a good girl. Why would someone do this?"  
  
"We're here to figure that out, sir," Morgan told him softly.  
  
"Do you know why her parents kicked her out?" Reid wasn't sure why he asked the question, but he felt it in his gut, that it may solve a part of the mystery.  
  
"She never told me. Her parents were uber religious and very conservative. If I had to guess, they didn't appreciate that she was gay."  
  
Morgan and Reid gave each other a look. This could be a clue.  
  
Allen, noticing the look that the two gave each other. "Do you think this was a hate crime?"  
  
"There's no way of knowing that at this point," Reid told him.  
  
"When did Mia leave last night?"  
  
"She left around closing, per usual. We made a compromise that I wouldn't drive her to her apartment if she called a cab. She would go outside about five minutes before the estimated arrival time. I would usually watch her from the window, but Sherry's sick, and I wanted to get some soup for her." After being silent for a second, he continued. "Do think this wouldn't have happened if I had stayed a bit longer?"  
  
"There's no way of knowing that," Morgan told him.  
  
"But it seems like I could have helped her."  
  
"Or you could have gotten hurt yourself."  
  
"I can't go back know," Allen quietly said to himself.  
  
Morgan and Reid respond to the sentence.  
  
"If you remember anything else that may be of help, feel free to call," Morgan told him, placing his card on the table now that Allen was spacing out on them.  
  
The two men let themselves out, both deep in thought. The information they were given could go either way. It would have to be determined by what the others found out.


End file.
